A Different Kind Of Rain
by Just My Cup Of Tea
Summary: Eren is racing against both the sprinklers and impending adulthood; it's pretty obvious he's going to lose to one.


For the prompt: "Eremin first kiss. Eren sets the sprinklers to go off in a minute and tries to stall Armin from walking down the front path. The sprinklers go off when he's not expecting and he grabs Armin and lays a good one on him."

* * *

It was ten past six, and Eren was starting to get antsy.

Practice had officially ended a half hour ago, but everyone knew that Coach Erwin treated those times like guidelines, and he had run practice today. They liked it when Coach Levi ran practice, because while it was brutal, at least he was a stickler on letting them out on time. But the discrepancy between times had led the Jaegers to look into getting Eren a car to drive as soon as he had his license, because they were sick of waiting in the car for practice to be over.

But now Eren was starting to get worried, because Eren had _plans._

See, it was junior year and prom was just around the corner, which ultimately meant senior year was just around the corner. And that meant that Eren had to get his shit together, fast.

Eren had been working up the courage to ask Armin Arlert out since freshman year when Armin joined the GSA at their school and Eren had finally woken the fuck up and realized that he didn't have to be awkwardly crushing on his best friend and could instead be non-awkwardly making out with his boyfriend. (Well, he hopes it would be non-awkwardly. But if Eren is anything, optimistic to the point of stupidity would be it.)

And even that optimism hasn't been enough to lend him the courage to just man the hell up and _do it._

But Eren is all too aware that in a few months they'll be applying to colleges and Armin could and probably will go somewhere prestigious and far away while Eren, well. He'll be able to go somewhere decent, but he probably won't have a hell of a lot to pick from. And "please let me in to your school because you accepted my best friend who I've been trying to ask out since freshman year but could never find the balls to do it" would probably not go well on college applications.

So it's got to be now.

Eren drives Armin home after baseball practice on the weekdays when Armin has club meetings and therefore misses his bus. Normally Armin gets out a little bit earlier than him and meets him on the field but practice has already ended and everything has been packed up and Armin still isn't here, which is really screwing with Eren's whole plan.

Eren's plan goes a little something like this: Ask Armin to prom after practice, take him to prom and then confess all of his deep dark feelings he's been harboring for years, and then when Armin is obviously charmed by his timing and way with words, they live happily ever after, the college problem somehow miraculously resolved.

Again, stupidly optimistic.

But Armin wasn't there. How is he supposed to ask out a guy who isn't even there?

And Eren is starting to get worried, not just about his own plans, but Armin himself too, because Armin is never late, even on days when practice ends on time and now it's so late that soon the sprinklers are going to come on to wet the dirt of the field. Eren is starting to wonder if he should go look for him, but he definitely should get off the field, because the sprinklers really are going to turn on any second now and the only people left on the field are him and Jean.

"Hey Jaeger, where's your boyfriend?" Jean sneers at him. Eren begins to turn, the "he's not my boyfriend" ready on his lips, when he hears a familiar voice calling his name behind him.

Eren turns back around, grin already on, hoists his bag higher onto his shoulder and flips Jean off behind him. Armin is jogging across the field to him, red faced and out of breath, and that's when Eren realizes that the sprinklers are turning on.

His greeting turns into an "Armin, hold on" and he tries to grab Armin's attention to the fact that the sprinklers are coming on by walking onto the field himself waving his arms, but of course all that happens is that they end up both standing in the middle of the field when the sprinklers come on, dowsing them both in water.

Armin splutters in surprise hair instantly plastered to his head and eyes comically wide with the surprise the cold brought. Eren is standing in front of him when he looks up, and suddenly Eren is having trouble breathing because he's too busy having flashbacks.

Armin looks just like he did when they went to the pool that one time, when they got caught in a rainstorm that other time, and then of course that one time when they were walking down the path to the sidewalk from Eren's house and the sprinklers came on. He looks like every Armin that Eren has found himself attracted to.

Eren's not entirely sure what happened next, but he figures he must have leaned forward and kissed Armin, because there are Armin's lips and his lips and wow, so that's happening.

But Eren is awkward as fuck and jerks back the second he realized he actually did that and didn't just fantasize about it late at night.

Armin, the poor boy, looks confused as hell. He's still looking at the sprays of water as if trying to figure out where they're coming from, and added to the surprise kiss from his best friend, he's two steps behind the whole thing for once.

"So, uh," Eren starts, hating the stutter and high pitch of his voice, "prom?".

Armin blinks a few times, mouths the word "prom" to himself once, still clearly confused. Eren watches, staring at his friend like he's afraid he's going to kill him the second he breaks himself out of his stupor.

Armin comes back to life remarkably fast and smacks Eren so hard and fast on the should that Eren didn't have a prayer of getting out of the way.

"_Ow_, what the _hell_ Armin -"

"You idiot - yes, of course, prom!" Eren immediately stops talking and stares at Armin wide eyed and slack jawed.

"But - wait -"

"Eren. Stop talking."

And Armin kissed him again, probably to make sure Eren listened. And they were both soaked to the bone and Eren was going to be so late for dinner, but hey, he's got the picture of Jean's face when he saw the two of them imprinted in his mind forever and a date to prom, and that's enough for now.


End file.
